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The ownership saga between Volkswagen (OTC: VLKAY) and Porsche (ETR: PAH3) is poised to end as the two car companies agreed on terms to sell almost 50% Porsche’s sports car business to Volkswagen and the remaining shares by the year 2011.
This comes after Porsche failed to fully take over the “Beetle” manufacturer as Porsche SE reports losses of 3.9 billion pounds after posting 7.7 billion profits the previous year.
Porsche SE was the company formed in the takeover bid for Volkswagen. However, Porsche AG, its sportscar division, remains strong as it made a 10.3% operating profit margin on car sales. Volkswagen has an operating profit of only 2.4% on their car sales.
Porsche was hit hard as sales figures dropped the previous year. Overall, sales figures dropped 24%, while 911 sales dipped 14%, Cayenne Sales fell 15% and Cayman/boxster sales had a massive drop of 40%.
I would have thought that in theory Volkswagen's customer base will be more effected by the economic downturn than Porsche’s but this doesn't seem to be the case. I wonder if Porsche’s sales are being effected by their reputation as a banker's car?
As I mentioned on my blog recently a large part of Volkswagen's sales are in the commercial vehicles sector which may be hesitant to upgrade during a recession. They seem to be doing well despite this however.